“Since that moment [Eva Carneiro], Mourinho’s ego has been hurt and has demanded that he reinstate the presence that he had before,” the Secret Footballer revealed.

“His ego is why he didn’t apologise, when he most certainly should have.

“What has happened since has been the total and utter abandonment of Mourinho and his philosophy by the players.

“Mourinho is bang to rights and the players know it, so they are now trying to make their point on the pitch.

“I have it on the best authority possible that the players have told the manager that they hate the way they play.

“They hate the way they have to sit back against inferior opposition, they hate the way they aren’t allowed to express themselves.

“I’m told that Cesc Fabregas is the leader of that mini-revolt. And as a player, you do things like this when you know you are in the right.

“You try your luck. Why not? It’s your way of saying to the manager ‘you can either listen to us, and give the go ahead to change and give us what we want, or we’ll keep serving you up the same old s**t and embarrass you.’”

Chelsea’s players have stayed publically loyal to Mourinho this season, despite the manager’s increasingly erratic behaviour and a dire run of results that has left them deep in the bottom half of the table.

Speaking after the Liverpool defeat, John Obi Mikel said: “The goals and wins are not coming but you can see we are playing for the manager and are right behind him.

“There is no doubt about it. If anyone can turn this around, I definitely think he is the one.

“If you say to the players that we are not giving 100 percent then there is a doubt – but we are giving 100 percent, we are playing for the manager and we are right behind him.

“Everyone can see how much hard work we are putting in and we are playing well but the results are not coming for us.”

Earlier last month, defender Gary Cahill said: “I think in terms of backing the manager, of course we all back him, of course we are all around him,” Cahill said.

“Dare I say he doesn’t even need backing, when you’ve done so much in the game, not just in this league but in other leagues too.

“It is obviously nice to have that and he certainly has it from the players and the club.”

Is the Mourinho era at Chelsea about to end? Discuss his future with fellow Chelsea fans on our Your Say forum.